Try washing windows with
a squeegee and I bet you’ll never go back to a spray bottle and paper towels.
Squeegees get your glass clear and streak free in a fraction of the time it
takes with paper towels. In this article, we’ll show you the equipment you need
and simple steps to follow for fast, clear results.
The keys to success are
buying a good squeegee and keeping it fitted with a sharp, new rubber blade.
The same high-quality window washing tools the pros use are readily available
at home centers and full-service hardware stores. The whole setup costs less
than $30 and will last many years. You’ll need a 10- or 12-in. squeegee ($6 to
$12), a scrubber ($4 to $8), a bucket (a 5-gallon plastic bucket will work),
hand dishwashing liquid (we recommend Dawn) and a few lint-free rags or small
towels.
Buy a High-Quality Squeegee
Buy a good squeegee and replace the blade
frequently. There may be others, but you can’t go wrong buying a squeegee made
by Ettore, Pulex, Sorbo or Unger. Look for replacement blades ($2 or $3 each),
also called rubbers, where you buy the squeegee and pick up two or three to
have on hand. The pros we talked to change their squeegee blades as often as
once a day. That’s because you just can’t do a good job if the edge of the
blade becomes nicked, sliced or rounded over with use. If your squeegee leaves
streaks or just isn’t performing like new, don’t hesitate to replace the blade
(Photos 10 and
11). You can get a little more mileage out of blades that aren’t
nicked or sliced by simply reversing them to expose a fresh edge. When you
store the squeegee, make sure nothing touches the blade.
You don’t need fancy
buckets or special soap. Any large bucket will do. Just add a couple of gallons
of water and about a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and you’re ready to go. In
warm weather, you’ll get a little more working time by using cool water. If
you’ve procrastinated so long that you’re washing windows in below-freezing
temps (I learned this the hard way), add windshield-washing solution until the
water doesn’t freeze on the glass.
Scrubber or sponge? It’s
up to you. A scrubber works great and is worth buying if you have a lot of
medium to large panes of glass. But a good-quality sponge is all you really
need, especially if most of your windowpanes are small.
Our Squeegee Method Is Easy to
Master
Professional window cleaners sweep the
squeegee back and forth across the window in one continuous motion. But this
“fanning” technique takes practice to master. Instead, the method we show
allows you to get great results immediately. We’re moving the squeegee
horizontally across the glass (Photos 4 – 6), but vertical strokes
will work too. If you work vertically, angle the squeegee to direct excess
water toward the uncleaned area.
Touch Up With a Rag
If all goes well, a
quick run around the perimeter of the glass with a clean rag will finish the
job (Photo 7). If
you left a squeegee track, wait a few minutes until it dries. It will often
disappear. If not, you may be able to rub streaks away with a few light rubs
with the clean, dry rag. But don’t hesitate to simply redo the entire window.
By now you’re probably getting so good that it will only take a few seconds
anyway.
Yes, You Can Use a Squeegee Inside the House
Too
The pros do it all the
time, even in houses with stained and varnished woodwork. The key is to squeeze
most of the soapy water out of the scrubber to eliminate excessive dripping and
running. Then rest the scrubber on the edge of the bucket rather than dropping
it in the water after each window. Depending on how dirty your windows are, you
may be able to wash five or ten windows before rinsing the scrubber. Keep a rag
in your pocket to wipe the squeegee and quickly clean up soapy water that runs
onto the woodwork. Use a separate clean rag to wipe the perimeter of the glass. New “microfiber” rags (Photo
7) work great for window cleaning. They’re available in the cleaning
section of some home centers and hardware stores.
Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.
Get your window sparkling clean in less than
30 seconds — just scrub, squeegee and
wipe!
Tips for Hard-to-Clean Windows
Dried paint, sticky
labels, tree pitch and bug crud may not yield to plain soap and water. Here are
a few tips for removing this tough grime.
-
Scrape wetted glass with
a new, sharp razor blade to remove dried paint (Photo
9).
-
Remove tree pitch or bug
droppings with a fine (white) nylon scrub pad. Wet the glass first and rub in
an inconspicuous area to make sure you’re not scratching the
glass.
-
Add 1/2 cup of ammonia
per gallon of water to help remove greasy dirt.
-
Loosen sticky residue
left from labels or tape by soaking it with a specialty product like Goof Off.
You’ll find Goof Off in the paint department at hardware stores and home
centers. Then scrape off the residue with a razor blade.
1. Dip the scrubber in a solution of 1 teaspoon
dishwashing liquid to two gallons of water. Squeeze excess water from the
scrubber.
Click image to enlarge.
2. Scrub the glass, working at all angles to clean
the edges. Make sure to cover every square inch of the glass.
Click image to enlarge.
3. Tip the squeegee so that only the corner
contacts the glass. Then, starting at the top corner of the glass, clean a
narrow strip of glass from top to bottom on one side. This clean strip makes it
easier to start the horizontal stokes.
4.
Press the squeegee blade against the glass in the upper corner
and pull it steadily across the window. Concentrate on keeping the top of the
squeegee in contact with the top edge of the window.
5.
Wipe the blade on the clean towel in your front pocket or wipe it
across the scrubber to remove dirt and excess water.
6.
Begin again, with the top of the squeegee overlapping the
previous stroke about 2 in. Pull the squeegee across the window at an angle to
direct excess water down. Wipe and repeat.
7. Use the rag in your pocket to wipe up excess
water along the bottom edge of the window. Then poke your finger into a dry
spot on a separate lint-free rag and run it around the perimeter of the window
to remove any remaining suds. Wipe off any streaks using a clean area of the
lint-free rag. Change rags when you can’t find any fresh, clean
areas.
8. Wash divided-lite windows with a sponge and a
small squeegee. If you can’t find a small enough squeegee, you can cut off a
larger one to fit your glass size. Scrub the glass with a wrung-out sponge.
Then use the tip of the squeegee to clear a narrow strip at the top (same
technique as Photo 3). Pull the squeegee down and wipe the
perimeter.
9. Remove paint specks and labels with a razor
blade mounted in a holder. Always use a new blade to avoid scratching the
glass. Wet the window first and push the blade across once. Rinse the blade and
repeat on the next section to avoid trapping debris under the blade that could
scratch the glass. Don’t use a razor blade on tempered glass.
10. Change the squeegee blade if it’s nicked,
sliced or worn. Grab the end of the blade and stretch it out to expose the
metal clip. Slide the clip off. Then slide the blade out the opposite end.
Blades without clips are held by screws and the clamp on the
handle.
11. Slide the new blade into the metal channel.
Stretch it as in Photo 10 and reinstall the metal clip. If necessary, cut the
end of the blade to leave 1/8 to 3/16 in. protruding from the
channel.
